The winners of the 1997

Governor General's Literary Awards The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

were announced on November 18 by

Donna Scott Donna Scott is a Canadian business person best known as the founder of the fashion magazine Flare Magazine. Scott retired from ''Flare'' and went on to Chair the Canada Council for the Arts from 1994 to 1998. She also worked as the Executive Dir ...

, Chairman of the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal in ...

. Each winner received a cheque for $10,000.

English

Fiction

Jane Urquhart Jane Urquhart, LL.D (born June 21, 1949) is a Canadian novelist and poet. She is the internationally acclaimed author of seven award-winning novels, three books of poetry and numerous short stories. As a novelist, Urquhart is well known for her e ...

, ''The Underpainter'' *

Sandra Birdsell Sandra Louise Birdsell, CM (née Bartlette) (born 22 April 1942) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Métis and Mennonite heritage from Morris, Manitoba. Life and career Born in Hamiota, Manitoba, Birdsell was the fifth of eleven c ...

, ''The Two-Headed Calf'' * Matt Cohen, ''Last Seen'' * Elizabeth Hay, ''Small Change'' *

Eric McCormack Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963) is a Canadian-American actor and singer, known for his roles as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', Grant MacLaren in Netflix's '' Travelers'' and Dr. Daniel Pierce in the TNT crime dram ...

, ''First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women''

Poetry

Dionne Brand Dionne Brand (born 7 January 1953) is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and documentarian. She was Toronto's third Poet Laureate from September 2009 to November 2012. She was admitted to the Order of Canada in 2017Marilyn Bowering Marilyn Bowering (born April 13, 1949) is a Canadian poet, novelist and playwright. As well as several adventure novels and many books of poetry, Bowering has also scripted a number of dramatic works and a libretto. Early life Bowering was born i ...

, ''Autobiography'' *

Patrick Friesen Patrick Frank Friesen (born 5 July 1946) is a Canadian author born in Steinbach, Manitoba, primarily known for his poetry and stage plays beginning in the 1970s. Life and career Friesen was born into a Mennonite family in Steinbach, Manitoba ...

, ''A Broken Bowl'' * Carole Glasser Langille, ''In Cannon Cave'' * Don McKay, ''Apparatus''

Drama

* Ian Ross, ''FareWel'' *

Maureen Hunter Maureen Hunter (born 1948)Hunter, Maureen
in the Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. is a

, ''Atlantis'' *

Lee MacDougall Lee MacDougall is a Canadian actor, writer and theatre director."High Life? Absolutely: Stratford actor Lee MacDougall is enjoying success and honors as a playwright". ''Waterloo Region Record'', November 1, 1997. Originally from Kirkland Lake, O ...

, ''High Life'' *

Jason Sherman Jason Sherman (born July 28, 1962 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian playwright and screenwriter. After graduating from the creative writing program at York University in 1985, Sherman co-founded What Publishing with Kevin Connolly, which produc ...

, ''Reading Hebron'' *

Judith Thompson Judith Clare Thompson, OC (born September 20, 1954) is a Canadian playwright who lives in Toronto, Ontario. She has twice been awarded the Governor General's Award for drama, and is the recipient of many other awards including the Order of Canad ...

, ''Sled''

Non-fiction

Rachel Manley Rachel Manley (born 1955) is a Jamaican writer in verse and prose, born in Cornwall, England, raised in Jamaica and currently (as of August 2020) residing in Canada. She is a daughter of the former Jamaican prime minister, Michael Manley. She was ...

, ''Drumblair – Memories of a Jamaican Childhood'' * Wade Davis, ''One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest'' * Catherine Dunphy, ''Morgentaler: A Difficult Hero'' *

Terry Glavin Terry Glavin (born 1955) is a Canadian author and journalist. Career Born in the United Kingdom to Irish parents, he emigrated to Canada in 1957. Glavin has worked as a journalist and columnist for ''The Daily Columbian'' (reporter, columnist a ...

, ''This Ragged Place – Travels Across the Landscape'' * Blair Stonechild and

Bill Waiser William Andrew "Bill" Waiser (born 1953) is a Canadian historian specializing in western and northern Canadian history. Career and honours Waiser grew up in Toronto but developed an interest in western Canadian history visiting his grandparents' ...

, ''Loyal till Death – Indians and the North-West Rebellion''

Children's Literature – Text

Kit Pearson Kathleen Margaret "Kit" Pearson (born April 30, 1947) is a Canadian writer and winner of numerous literature awards. Pearson is perhaps best known for her linked novels '' The Sky Is Falling'' (1989), ''Looking at the Moon'' (1991), and ''The Li ...

, ''Awake and Dreaming'' *

Cheryl Foggo Cheryl Dawn Foggo is a Canadian author, documentary film director, screenwriter and playwright. Biography Born in Calgary, Alberta in 1956, she is descended from Black Oklahomans who settled in Maidstone, Saskatchewan in 1910. She also had anc ...

, ''One Thing That's True'' *

James Heneghan James Heneghan (7 October 1930 – 23 April 2021) was a British–Canadian author of children's and young adult novels. Heneghan grew up Liverpool, England, and emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1957, where he lived until his death on ...

, ''Wish Me Luck'' * Teddy Jam, ''The Fishing Summer'' * Barbara Nichol, ''

Dippers Dippers are members of the genus ''Cinclus'' in the bird family Cinclidae, so-called because of their bobbing or dipping movements. They are unique among passerines for their ability to dive and swim underwater. Taxonomy The genus ''Cinclus'' ...

Children's Literature – Illustrations

* Barbara Reid, ''The Party'' * Blair Drawson, ''Flying Dimitri'' *

Marie-Louise Gay Marie-Louise Gay (born June 17, 1952) is a Canadian children's writer and illustrator. She has received numerous awards for her written and illustrated works in both French and English, including the 2005 Vicky Metcalf Award, multiple Governor ...

, ''Rumpelstiltskin'' *

Robin Muller Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') ** Bush-robin ** Forest ...

, ''The Angel Tree'' * Ludmila Zeman, ''The First Red Maple Leaf''

Translation – French to English

Howard Scott Howard Scott (April 1, 1890 – January 1, 1970) was an American engineer and founder of the Technocracy movement. He formed the Technical Alliance and Technocracy Incorporated. Early life Little is known about Scott's background or his early li ...

, ''The Euguelion'' *

Jane Brierley Jane Brierley (born 1935) is a Canadian translator, translating from French to English. She received a B.A. from Bishop's University in 1956. During the early 1960s, while her husband was completing a degree at the University of Paris, Brierley m ...

, ''Canadians of Old'' *

Patricia Claxton Patricia Claxton (born 1929) is a Canadian translator, primarily of Quebec literature. A native of Kingston, Ontario, Patricia Claxton spent most of her childhood in India. Upon returning to Canada, she has made Montreal, Quebec's largest city, a ...

, ''Baroque at Dawn'' *

David Homel David Homel (born 1952) is an American-Canadian writer and literary translator.Ian McGillis"Montreal's David Homel counsels self-forgiveness in new memoir" ''Montreal Gazette'', April 23, 2021. He is most noted as a two-time winner of the Governo ...

, ''A Drifting Year'' *

Nancy Huston Nancy Louise Huston, OC (born September 16, 1953) is a Canadian-born novelist and essayist who writes primarily in French and translates her own works into English. Biography Huston was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, the city in which she ...

, ''The Goldberg Variations''

French

Fiction

Aude Aude (; ) is a department in Southern France, located in the Occitanie region and named after the river Aude. The departmental council also calls it " Cathar Country" (French: ''Pays cathare'') after a group of religious dissidents active i ...

, ''Cet imperceptible mouvement'' * Bernard Assiniwi, ''La Saga des Béothuks'' *

Lise Bissonnette Lise Bissonnette (born December 13, 1945) is a Canadian writer and journalist. Biography Born in Rouyn, Quebec, Bissonnette studied education science at the Université de Montréal from 1965 to 1970. She later pursued doctoral studies at th ...

, ''Quittes et Doubles – Scènes de réciprocité'' *

Pierre Morency Pierre Morency, (born 8 May 1942) is a French Canadian writer, poet and playwright. Life Born in Lauzon, Quebec, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Collège de Lévis in 1963 and a teaching diploma from the Université Laval in 1966 ...

, ''La Vie entière – Histoires naturelles du Nouveau Monde'' * Pierre Ouellet, ''Légende dorée''

Poetry

* Pierre Nepveu, ''Romans-fleuves'' *

Nicole Brossard Nicole Brossard (born November 27, 1943) is a leading French-Canadian formalist poet and novelist. Her work is known for exploration of feminist themes and for challenging masculine-oriented language and points of view in French literature. She ...

, ''Vertige de l'avant-scène'' * Serge Legagneur, ''Poèmes choisis, 1961–1997'' *

Paul Chanel Malenfant Paul Chanel Malenfant (born 1960) is a Québécois writer and professor. He won Canada's Governor General's Award in 2001. Life He graduated from the Université de Montréal and the Université Laval. He was a professor at Cégep de Rimousk ...

, ''Fleuves'' *

Hélène Monette Hélène Monette (June 11, 1960 – June 25, 2015) was a Quebec writer of poetry. The youngest daughter of André Monette and Rita Roquebrune, she was born in Saint-Philippe-de-Laprairie and was educated at the Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe, at the ...

, ''Plaisirs et Paysages kitsch''

Drama

* Yvan Bienvenue, ''Dits et Inédits'' * Jasmine Dubé, ''La Bonne Femme'' * Marie-Line Laplante, ''Une tache sur la lune'' *

Robert Marinier Robert Marinier (born 1954 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian stage actor, playwright and television writer, who was a nominee for the Governor General's Award for French-language drama at the 1997 Governor General's Awards for his play ''L'Insomn ...

, ''L'Insomnie'' * Larry Tremblay, ''Ogre – Cornemuse''

Non-Fiction

* Roland Viau, ''Enfants du néant et mangeurs d'âmes – Guerre, culture et société en Iroquoisie ancienne'' *

Fernand Dumont Fernand Dumont (24 June 1927 – 1 May 1997) was a Canadian sociologist, philosopher, theologian, and poet from Quebec.Yolande Geadah, ''Femmes voilées, intégrismes démasqués'' * Alain Bernard Marchand, ''Tintin au pays de la ferveur'' *

François Ricard François Ricard (4 June 1947 – 17 February 2022) was a Canadian writer and academic from Quebec.Michel Noël, ''Pien'' * Dominique Demers, ''Maïna, tomes 1 et 2'' * Agathe Génois, ''Sarah, je suis là!'' *

Jacques Godbout Jacques Godbout, OC, CQ (born November 27, 1933) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, children's writer, journalist, filmmaker and poet. By his own admission a bit of a dabbler (''touche-à-tout''), Godbout has become one of the most important wri ...

, ''Une leçon de chasse'' *

Maryse Pelletier Maryse Pelletier (born November 20, 1946) is a Canadian actress and award-winning writer living in Quebec. She was born in Cabano and received a BA from the Université de Moncton. She went on to study French, American and English literature at t ...

, ''Une vie en éclats''

Children's Literature – Illustrations

Stéphane Poulin Stéphane Poulin (born 1961) is a Canadian children's book author and illustrator living in Quebec. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, and studied graphic arts at Collège Ahuntsic. In 1983, Poulin received honourable mention as children's book illu ...

, ''Poil de serpent, dent d'araignée'' * Leanne Franson, ''L'Ourson qui voulait une Juliette'' *

Stéphane Jorisch Stéphane Jorisch is a Canadian artist and illustrator. He is a two-time winner of the Governor General's Award for French-language children's illustration(once in 1993 for ''Le Monde selon Jean de ...'' and in 1999 for ''Charlotte et l'île du des ...

, ''Casse-Noisette'' *

Gilles Tibo The Gilles are the oldest and principal participants in the Carnival of Binche in Belgium. They go out on Shrove Tuesday from 4 am until late hours and dance to traditional songs. Other cities, such as La Louvière and Nivelles, have a traditio ...

, ''Simon et le petit cirque''

Translation – English to French

Marie José Thériault Marie José Thériault (born March 21, 1945) is a Quebec writer, performer and translator. Early years The daughter of Yves Thériault and Michelle (Germaine) Blanchet, she was born in Montreal. She had an interest in learning other languages ...

, ''Arracher les montagnes'' *

François Barcelo François () is a French language, French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis (given name), Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of ...

, ''La Face cachée des pierres'' * Nicole Côté, ''Verre de tempête'' * Pierrot Lambert, ''L'Insight: Étude de la compréhension humaine'' {{GovernorGeneralsAwards Governor General's Awards

Governor General's Awards The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...